What If
by Bellabear9898
Summary: *SPOILER FOR 2-18!* What if Charlie was more determined to keep Jason alive? "I couldn't just shoot you" she replies and when I turn to look at her, she is looking straight ahead, her eyes fixed on the horizon. From 2-18 and beyond (will stray from episodes), Jason will stay with us through it all... or will he? (Story contains Jason and Connor tension I know everyone loves!)
1. Chapter 1

_Nope, Jason isn't dead I refuse to believe it. *Breaks down crying*_

_People don't get that when a character dies and they just say something like "They're not really dead you know" and they're talking about the actor that plays the character, that yes, that actor is still alive, but the character that once lived through the actor is forever gone. Some people just don't get it!_

_So what did I do right after I watched this episode of Revolution? Instead of crying (for THAT long anyways), I brought Jason back to life. If people keep writing about him, he will never really die. _

_So without further ado, I present 'What If'._

* * *

Charlie:

Jason throws me across the small room and I quickly try to make it to my feet. Shards of broken glass dig into my hands and blood runs from my nose and mouth. I don't dare give up though. He had shown his number to everyone back at camp and I knew that he was deep under patriot programming. I needed to read the number to get Jason back.

I manage to struggle to my feet but Jason's hands lock around my throat before I can get away. Hot tears burn in my eyes as I try and gasp for a breath that I cannot find. With my oxygen already low, I bring up a knee and hit Jason hard.

He partially collapses and I use the moment to push him to the ground and dash behind a set of bookshelves. My eyes scan over the trashed room in attempt to find something to restrain Jason somehow. My eyes lock on a two foot length of sturdy looking rope and I dash for it.

Before I can reach the rope at the end of the bookcase, a fist flies out of nowhere and knocks me sprawling across the room, mere inches from the rope.

"Jason!" I yell through gritted teeth in hope to snap him out of it. No such luck.

He is kneeling over me and his hands try to lock around my neck once again. I growl and struggle and strain to be free. I reach out my hand as far as I can reach and finally yank the length of rope to me. I fake left, and then roll right, reversing our positions. He easily throws me off and I scramble to my feet.

Jason produces a six inch long knife from his belt and holds it up. It glints in the sunlight. I fumble until my hands are on the large gun he had in the bag before and I point it at him.

"Don't move!" I shout. My voice sounds authoritative but it still shakes.

Zombie Jason looks at the gun then at his knife. I had seen this before and I knew it was about to happen again.

I shoot.

It might have been the only time a gun wound actually saved someone's life (actually two people's lives). The bullet hit his right above his left hip. Jason looked down in shock and dropped the knife before stumbling to the ground.

I tentatively approach him after kicking away the knife and kneel by his side once I deem it safe. Apparently I have poor judgment though, because Jason isn't done yet. He throws me away from him again and I fall into a bookcase. He stands and walks slowly towards me, every step he slouched down a foot before coming back up.

I slip around the edge of the bookshelf and catch a glance of Jason from the reflection in the bits of shattered mirror. He stands in the middle of the bookshelf, his back to the wall.

With the rope in hand, I hoist myself onto the shelving and pause. Then all at once I slip the rope around his neck and pull tight. His head rolls up to see me and he struggles to pull away but I hold tight.

I transfer both ends of the rope into one hand and reach forward and pull down his lower eyelid.

"44282" I read loud and as clearly as I can manage "This is commander Charlotte. Stand down!" I see his eyes begin to clear and his struggling ceases. I let go of the rope and slide down off the bookshelf back so I'm on the opposite side than Jason.

Hesitantly I edge my way around the edge of the bookshelf and I see Jason slumped halfway on the ground with his back leaning against the shelf with his hands pressed to just above his hip where I shot him.

"Jason?" I whisper sounding weaker than I ever wanted to.

He looks up at the noise. I almost smile. The movement was too fast and uncalculated to be one of a patriot soldier.

His face conveys shock and horror as he takes in how I look. Without looking I know that a red ring wraps around my neck, bruises already are blossoming across my face and arms and my nose is bleeding along with blood that drips out of the corner of my mouth.

"Charlie?" he asks his voice thick and confused.

I smile for half a second. "Are you alright?" I ask still whispering as I edge closer and closer to him.

"I'm shot" he states sounding more confused than ever.

I chuckle once without humor. "Yeah, I did that" I whisper back.

"What? Why? And what happened to you?" he asks, his mouth parted slightly as he looks at me with concern and shock.

I look down and blink back tears that come with almost dying and being choked to death. "Um, you uh, went patriot. I tried to read the number but you were too strong and you were about to uh, attack me so I had to shoot you" I explain leaving out the ending where he tried to kill me yet again.

"Charlie" he breathes out and he looks horrified at himself "I'm so sorry."

I nod a little more than I should because I'm still trying to calm myself down and run a hand over my face. "Yeah" I finally say after a minute "It wasn't you though."

"Doesn't matter" he replies, his voice hard.

I glance down and then back up into his chocolate brown eyes. "Yeah it does" I say back firmly. He looks like he wants to say more but he doesn't. "Okay" I say as I let out a stressed breath "Lie down, let me see the wound" I command.

He obliges and lies down on the dirty floor. He still looks vaguely confused and almost numb but I don't bring it up.

Gently I pull up the edge of his red shirt to the middle of his stomach and peer down at the wound. It was only about half an inch deep and the bullet looked to be all in one piece. I rise shakily to my feet and walk over to the window where my bag is. I bring it back to Jason and pull out tweezers and alcohol.

"This'll hurt" I warn as I hold the bottle of alcohol over his wound as if asking for permission. He nods gruffly and I slowly pour the clear liquid over the wound. He grunts and his jaw tightens but he doesn't scream.

"Good" I whisper as I then take the tweezers and pull the bullet out of his skin. He breathes a sigh of relief once it is out. I clear away most of the blood then take a discarded cloth curtain and wrap a shred of it around his middle.

I blink and look away once I have finished. "There you go" I say quietly. I sit back against the bookshelf a foot or so down from him and take another scrap of curtain and set about wiping the blood off of my face.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Jason asks gruffly a moment later. Although he still sounds angry with himself, he sounds genuinely confused. "I tried to kill you" he states with his voice hard.

I breathe out and look forward. "You didn't mean to" I whisper back. It was really hard to calm myself down without being alone to process things.

"Bullshit. I still almost _killed_ you Charlie!" he growls, wincing at the pain from his gunshot wound. "And here you are acting like there's no one else in the world you'd rather be here with."

I bite my lip and remind myself that he is mad at himself, not me. "I'd rather be with Danny, or my father, or Nora." I reply.

He takes a shaky breath."I'm sorry. Damn it, I am _so_ sorry about everything Charlie" he says turning to look at me.

I stare him in the eye for a minute before giving up. He wouldn't let this go for a while and it was already approaching dark. And I was so tired. "The rendezvous point is tomorrow morning on the road for the next town over. I'm going to sleep" I say rising to me feet and approaching an old dirty 'L' shaped couch. I brush off some dirt and dust and glass and lay down on the worn material.

"The floor won't do wonders for your hip" I remind him nodding to the other end of the long couch. We would even touch each other if we both stretched out fully.

"Thank you Charile."

* * *

_So yeah, Jason lives!...I think the title may have been a spoiler... Oh well. Charlie is a little weaker in this episode, but I think it's close but how she would be in this circumstance but either way badass Charlie will return soon:)_

_Please leave a review and maybe, just maybe i'll post more chapters._

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_I don't see you about to review._

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_Im still not seeing it._

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_Doooooo ittttttt._

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_Im watching you._

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_~Bellabear~_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Thank you all for all the support for this story, the reviews are so sweet:) In this chapter Charlie isn't quite a _****_warrior princess yet because...well you'll find out after you read it ;)_**

* * *

**_Charlie:_**

Approximately two minutes after I decide Jason is really asleep and soft snores fill the room, I decide to step out for a minute. I roll carefully off my side and sit on the edge of the couch as I pull on my boots. I look over at Jason's sleeping form and see that his previously worried and angry face is relaxed and peaceful in sleep. I quietly edge out of the room so I don't wake him.

There is no particular destination in mind; I just need to get out. I just need to breathe. That was the thing about almost being choked to death multiple times, even hours after the choking, you still gasped for breath. I walk down a flight of stairs and lean against the wall just inside an open doorway.

I stretch back and breathe in a choked breath. I needed to be alone so I could process my thoughts and what happened without keeping up a mask. I had many mask, too many to count.

There was the hardened warrior that Miles had helped to shape. I had been wearing that mask full time since the Tower but it had been forming since the day Danny was taken. There was a slightly softer, but more irritable mask I wore around my mother so as not to let her in. I used to have a mask around Jason back before Danny's death. That mask was strong and hard, back then I was still trying to prove myself to be strong. There was a mask from after Danny's death, one that said I was okay and one that made me damn near suicidal with all the dangerous missions I went on then.

I had many more, but those were the ones that I kept close.

I really didn't know who I actually was. I had had to be what was needed for the last two plus years.

I was alone now though, which was a luxury in itself, and I could drop the masks and the characters I became and just relax. I let my head fall into my hands and I rub my face in exhaustion. God I was so tired and the walk back up to the couch on the next floor up seemed so far away.

I don't even get to finish convincing myself before I pass out.

* * *

**_Jason:_**

I gasp and sit up right just to cringe and lay back down from the pain of my hip where Charlie had shot me. "_Because you were about to kill her" _a voice in my head reminds me. I could have actually killed Charlie. There would no longer be Charlie in the world. I can't believe that I did that.

Out of instinct I look up to check on her. The place down past my feet in empty, just a worn lump where Charlie used to be. Her pack was still here but that didn't mean anything.

I stand my eyes wide, my weapon wielded and my stance defensive. "Charlie?" I call as a whisper then louder "Charlie!" My hip still hurts but I can manage the pain. Charlie did an excellent job fixing me up.

As fast as I can I shove my feet into my boots and quietly maneuver outside the room we were sleeping in and slowly descend down the stairs. "Charlie" I whisper yell "Charlie!"

I hear a faint noise of shuffling on the next floor down and I slowly move until I'm backed against the wall outside it. I turn and point my gun inside the dark room.

"Charlie?" I call again.

I hear a mumble and a groan. I look down and see Charlie slumped against the wall, her eyes half closed and her face heavy with sleep. I crack a half smile as I move to her side and kneel down.

"Charlie what are you doing down here?" I ask softly.

She groans and sits up a little more. She moves a hand to her head and moans as she opens her eyes fully. "I don't know" she mumbles sounding more like "Imono."

My brow knits in confusion. I raise a hand to her head and lightly run a hand over her hair lightly. She hisses in pain, confirming my suspicions. "Did I hurt your head" I ask after a moment.

"Maybe" she mutters "I was waiting 'till morning to check when I can see."

I slightly skim my hand over the wound and prod it gently. "Fair plan. Too bad I already know that it's hurt badly" I say holding my hand out on front of her, red with her blood. It wasn't bleeding that badly but it looked like she had a concussion from how she slurred her words and was delirious with exhaustion.

"I'll deal with it in the morning" she slurs making the words sound like "I'llmelwinnitinamorwing." Our shoulders were already touching and now her head slips and rests on my shoulder. Yeah, she defiantly had a concussion.

I half smile at the lazy tired version of Charlie. She wasn't hostile or comforting or wearing any one of her many masks. She was being Charlie, tired Charlie.  
She almost reminded me of farm fresh Charlie I had met by the stream that day. She was wide-eyed and innocent and believed that everyone had at least some good in them.

"Alright" I say comfortingly "The bleeding's stopped so there's not much else we can do anyways. You just need to rest for now."

She grumbles something and rolls towards me so her lips are almost touching my throat. "Beat ya to it" she whispers, her lips tickling my neck.

I chuckle. "Can you walk back up to the couch?" I ask her. My response is her moving my arm so she can have a better pillow. She was so out of it. "I'll take that as a no" I say "Can I carry you up there? Is that okay?"

"Mmhmm" she mumbles "As long as I don't have to walk."

I smile and turn to wrap an arm under her legs. My other arm wraps around her back and her head rests in the crook of my arm as I steadily rise to my feet. I don't even notice the pain in my side.

I finally make it back to the couch and I gently set her down on it back in her old spot. I slowly slide off her boots again and remove the knife that she had still gripped in her hand even in delirium.

I return to my spot and lay down, staring at the ceiling. "Good night Charlie" I whisper into the darkness.

"Mmm-night" she mumbles back. I grin.

* * *

**_Jason_**:

When light finally filters through the previously dark room, I look up to see Charlie already awake, sitting on the edge of the couch with her boots already on. The hard bored look that she had adopted was still absent from her piercing blue eyes and I knew that she was still a little delirious from her head injury.

With the light I can now see the full extent of her injuries that _I_ caused her. An only slightly faded red ring of handprints circle her neck and the right side of her lip was swollen and bruised a dark blue. A few multicolored bruised are scattered across her arms but the worse one is the dark purple one that colors just under her cheekbone.

"Charlie?" I ask noticing she looked far away.

She blinks are turns to me. "Oh you're up. Come on, we're leaving" she commands sounding slightly like herself but not fully. She wobbles slightly as she stands and I catch her arm before she falls. She shoots me a halfhearted glare and shrugs my arm off.

Once we have exited the building and are in the bright morning sunlight, I turn to her. "Let me see your head" I say firmly.

She recoils. "No, my head's fine" she says back trying to unsuccessfully shrug away from me. Normally she would have been able to get away from me, and probably have disarmed and knocked me to the ground, but now she couldn't even move two feet without stumbling.

I catch her arm and make her stand still while I sort through her hair. She winces and almost falls when I encounter the large bump on the left side of her head.

"It's stopped bleeding" I report peering at the dried dark blood "But the bump is pretty big and you'll probably be dizzy for a while."

She squints her eyes closed then opens them, revealing a glare. "I'm not dizzy" she says defensively "Let's go."

We walk for close to half an hour before I break the silence. "So how have you been?" I ask softly. I still had a soft spot for this girl no matter how hard I tried to repel it.

She laughs once without humor. "Oh I've been _fantastic_" she says sarcastically. "And you? With your fancy doubly married mother and your soulless father?" she asks with her eyes raised feigning innocence. She was angry obviously. "Don't ask stupid questions."

My mouth forms into a thin line as we pass city limits and start on the long dirt road that we would be meeting Miles and the rest of them in the middle of.

"My mom's dead" I say monotone. It was a lie but was probably true or soon to be true. "I'm done with my dad, for good this time."

She is silent for a minute. "Sorry about your mom. But you've said that about your dad before and the next thing, you're trying to shoot down our camp with him by your side." She replies coldly then stumbles and regains her balance.

"Let me take that" I say not waiting for an answer and pluck her pack off her shoulder and pull it only my own. "Hold onto my shoulder. Keep yourself upright."

She grits her teeth but complies. Her small hand grips onto my shoulder and tingles radiate from where she touches. "Stop being nice to me" she growls.

I keep my gaze straight ahead. "I almost killed you. I'm going to be nice to you for a hell of a long time so you better get used to it." I reply.

"You're forgetting I almost killed you too. Three inches farther up and you would've been dead." She says back.

A small smile graces my lips. "But you didn't shoot three inches farther up. You shot just above my hip then you de-patriot-ed me" I say.

"That's not a word" she says plainly "And that's not exactly what happened."

My brow creases in confusion. "What? What happened then?" I ask.

She swallows before continuing. "You still had a little fight left in you. I had to choke you with a rope from behind a bookcase so I could read the number" she admits.

Eyes wide, I turn to her. "You did all that while injured, just so you wouldn't have to kill me? Why the hell would you do that?" I ask. She went through such lengths just so I would live. I felt the most horrible mix of shock, gratefulness, honor and sadness.

"I couldn't just shoot you" she replies and when I turn to look at her, she is looking straight ahead, her eyes fixed on the horizon.

I think my mouth pops open half an inch. "You could've, but you didn't. Again, I'm so sorry Charlie" I plead, my true feelings seeping through into my voice.

The smallest hint of a smile tugs at her lips. After close to ten minutes she points ahead, wobbling as she does so, and says "There they are."

We get closer to where I can finally make out who is who. I could've sworn I would never see Miles Mathenson smile.

"Charlie" Miles breathed out relieved as he jogged over to us. His eyes widen as he takes in her appearance and the fact that I was carrying her bag and she was clutching my arm in support. "What the hell happened to you?"

She raised her bored but amused smile to her face. It was her unfeeling warrior princess mask she wore around Miles. "Miles" she greets ignoring him.

He rolls his eyes much like Charlie always does. "What happened?" he asks again, his voice dangerously low.

Before I can interject and admit that I was the one that caused the damage, Charlie speaks. "Jason did it" she says sounding bored.

Miles eyes widen this time in anger and lunges for me. Charlie pushes him back, stumbling as she does so. "Miles!" she shouts stumbling somewhat and we both turn in concern for Charlie. "He was under patriot programming, I stopped him before he could hurt me too bad" she reassures him, her face emotionless.

"How exactly did you _stop_ him?" he asks while shooting murderous glares at me from where I was sheltered behind Charlie.

Charlie returns Miles's glare. "I shot him" she replies then shrugs "That strangled him…" she holds her fingers half an inch apart and cracks a smile "Just a little bit."

A small smile cracks at the corner of the general's lips. "Good girl" he nods to her while keeping a side glare at me, then asks "Injuries?"

Almost as if she were a Militia soldier giving a report of what happened, she replies curtly "Minor concussion maybe, I'm fine." She grabs her pack off of my shoulder and straightens as she walks towards Monroe and the tan kid beside him. "Let's go!"

* * *

**_How'd you like it? But yeah, Charlie has a concussion which I thought could be the reason for talking more to Jason, being herself more and of course more touching between the two. Around Miles and the rest of the guys though, she still keeps up her warrior princess attitude even when she's all dizzy-ish and concussion-ey (Yes I just made up words. Why? Because Jason's alive, anything can happen)._**

**_Getting back to camp is the next chapter, where all the war clan peoples are and Jason will see exactly how kick ass Charlie really is now, I'm about to write that now and I'm excited:) There will also probably be some Jason and Connor tension, so stay tuned!_**

**_Oh and 239 people have read this but only seven have reviewed. That means 232 people officially are not nice. Become nice and leave a review please_****_?_**

**_More reviews = Update faster_**

**_(It's a pretty hard math problem isn't it? ;)_**

**_~Bellabear~_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_I'm glad that everyone is liking this story, but I'm really surprised that more people haven't written fan fictions where Jason lives! I mean seriously, I know that mostly everyone ships Bass and Charlie (Which I do like, but not at much as Jason and Charlie), but really? Oh but good news for the BassxCharlie shippers, since Jason is (*gulps*) dead, and the writers are making Connor into an ass, I think that there might really be some Charlie and Bass in the future. Yay for you. :( for me, no Jason and Charlie, waaaaaa._**

******_Anyways though, *sniffs holding back tears* here is the third chapter of "What If"._**

* * *

**_Charlie:_**

We were back at camp but I couldn't exactly say I was relieved. Sure, it was safe and I could get cleaned up and rest but that was about it. Other than that I was caged in there with my insane mother and the rest of them who weren't much better.

I pick up my pace a little once we set foot on the property and have all but disappeared by the time the rest of them get to the building. I see my guys and I nod to them who return the gesture. I walk straight through the building, only stopping by the one small room-it was more like a walk in closet and a small one at that-I had claimed as mine to sleep in to grab an old towel and a bar of soap. Thank god for the little clear creek behind this place or I would still be coated in blood from various battles. As I walk towards the creek that doubled as my bathtub, I run into one of the guys.

"Hey Charlie, glad I caught you" Taylor-I think that's his name- says with a grin. Taylor was younger than almost all of the guys, around twenty seven. He had short blonde hair and a cute smile. He was the person who first told Monroe why they were all there and one of the main people I liked to fight.

I muster a half smile. "Hey" I reply.

"Some of the guys and I went out for supplies and we ran into this old house, long story short we found some girls clothes that looked like they might fit you" he explains holding up a plastic bag weighed down with clothes "They're yours if you want them."

I take the bag from him and look through it. I grin up at him when I see that the clothes were my size and even the style I liked. "This is great. Thank you" I say smiling.

"No problem" he says nodding as he returns the smile. I continue on to the creek with my new clothes.

I survey the area before deciding its safe. I move to an area partially covered by trees and strip, leaving my clothes handing on a tree limp. In the water, I scrub the thick layer of dirt off my body and take care when cleaning around the bruises. My concussion had faded but my embarrassment from that night when Jason attacked me still held strong. Not that I would ever let him know I was embarrassed, but still.

I walk up back onto the shoreline and wrap myself in my towel. I sort through my bag and find the fresh clothes I had been given. I pull on the dark green tank top and the pair of cut off shorts. They felt strange when I had been wearing long jeans for the last few months but I liked the freedom they gave me. I take my belt from my other pants and loop it around my shorts then shrug my black leather jacket on. I slip my boots on and hide my knife alongside my ankle. I towel dry my hair then stuff everything back into my pack and walk back towards camp.

I nod to my men who were relaxing in a circle by a campfire. They return the nod. I liked them, but the other guys…not as much. Being in a mainly male war clan probably lowered criteria for women and minus my mom who was clearly claimed by Miles, I was the only other option. I wouldn't say it wasn't flattering, I mean if you had thirty plus guys hitting on you and whistling at you twenty four seven you would be feeling a little confident too. Of course I didn't encourage it or decline it either but still. It was kind of nice.

As I turn the corner, I almost run into my mother. "Charlie!" she says relieved then her eyes focus in on me. I realize that my bath probably removed the layer of grime that I relied on to hide the extent of my injuries. "What happened to you?" she asks sounding worried.

I sigh and tap my foot against the ground bored. "Jason went patriot and attacked, I un-activated him in time." I explain using the basics.

"Are you okay?" she asks as her eyes zero in on the large red handprints around my neck.

I brush past her. "Peachy" I call as I walk away.

As I approach the room I had claimed, I see the circle of war clan members. One of the guys calls out to me "Hey Charlie, you want in?" I smile. I would join in on their little fighting ring and I've beat everyone I have fought, even if I only fought six times before and I kind of suspected that they went easy on me. I should probably get some sleep before fighting anyone.

"Later!" I shout back. The guy- it was Taylor- grins and turns back to the fighting.

I turn and am about to continue walking when a voice startles me. "You fight with them?" I hear from behind me. I spin around to see Jason leaning against the wall looking at me. He looked relaxed and quiet and he kept looking at me with those eyes. Damn him.

I roll my eyes and start walking. "Against them" I specify.

He jogs to catch up with me then matches my pace. "You fight against them? They're two hundred pound war clan members" he says looking at me or maybe more specifically his handprints on my neck.

"I'm aware of what they are" I say brushing off his concern. I fiddle with the hem of my shorts, noticing that they revealed more of my injuries.

He makes a noise of surprise and approval. "Hm. And you've beaten them?" he asks sounding skeptical.

"Everyone I've fought" I say and leave him standing there. I didn't really tell him specifics, but he's impressed and knows that I'm not weak…I don't know why I needed him to know that though.

I tell myself that it's because he saw me the other night when I was beaten down to the point of collapse physically and mentally. That was why I needed to prove my strength. I find my way towards the walk in closet I had claimed and fall onto the mattress of old coats, branches and a blanket. I sleep for a few hours before I'm woken up by my hunger.

The sun had jut set and the several campfires cast tall shadows up the concrete walls. I could see a group or two of people fighting and I contemplate joining them seeing as I'm so well rested now but decide to wait.

I see now that mixed within some of the men, there were also a handful of women in the war clan. They were dressed in dark leather, and weapons hung at their belts. Their hair was usually short and their glare menacing. They looked a lot like me and I didn't know if that excited or scared me. I find the circle of my men, they were laughing and drinking and acting free. I liked them more like this. Most of my guys were at oldest their mid thirties and they still had some childishness in them which amused me to no end.

"There she is!" Taylor shouts when he sees me. He wobbles as he approaches me, arms wide open. He was obviously drunk and in a happy mood as well. He wraps one arm around me and squeezes my arm. "Come on, some of the guys came across a herd of deer. We have enough venison for days!" He exclaims laughing as he pulls me over to the log he was sitting on a moment earlier.

Someone hands me a broken off leaf with a hunk of cooked deer meat on it. It tastes wonderful. Soon enough I am drinking and laughing along with the rest of the guys and I didn't spare the important things a single thought. I didn't know if I became a war clan member, or I had always been one.

Sometime around maybe ten at night, Connor joins us. He grins his easy smile, something he did not get from Monroe, and quickly makes friend with my group. I feel weird, I didn't want them liking Connor, I wanted them to be my men and my little army only. Jason comes a few moments later and does the same. Connor and Jason share sharp looks across the fire, apparently Jason holding Connor captive to get in still doesn't sit well with Connor. I find myself grinning, loving the rivalry. I didn't trust either of them and if they wanted to hate each other that was more than fine with me.

"So who are you anyway?" Jason finally asks after close to twenty minutes of angry glares between the two. His voice isn't hard and cold or easy and conversational but somewhere In between.

Connor scoffs. "Little militia soldier hasn't figured it out yet?" He asks. Connor was even more of an ass when he was drunk. I liked him more in New Vegas.

"You don't know who I am either" Jason replies unaffected by Connor's taunts. There was no way of Jason knowing if Connor knew anything about Jason, which he didn't, not much anyway. The look in Connor's eye confirms it for Jason who smirks.

Connor glares. "You're Jason Neville, son of Tom Neville. You're ex-militia. You're the enemy even though you pretend not to be." Connor says monotone.

Jason almost smiles. "You're missing a hell of a lot of history" Jason says turning his glare to me where is softens. I look back at him then turn my somewhat soft look into a glare. He looks away. Connor doesn't miss the exchange.

"Isn't exactly good history either" I add sharply. Being betrayed over and over by Jason, who was kind of my boyfriend maybe for a short while, still didn't sit very well with me. I was very good at holding grudges. Both Connor and Jason's eyes point to me. I turn to Connor "But you've pretty much summed it up" I say flashing a sarcastic grin.

Jason's glare shifts around the campfire before settling on Connor. "You're right though, I was Militia. And because of that I know that you're important to Monroe and you're from the south, maybe Mexico?" He grins when he sees the answer in Connor's eyes. "You're far from home, want power, and have a thing for Charlie." he finishes with a smirk "Now tell me, how close am I?"

"I have to say that I'm impressed." Connor replies sounding anything but impressed "From Mexico, yes. I'm Monroe's son, meaning I can kill you _easily_. And you're more right than you know about me and Charlie" he smirks as Jason's eyes harden and flit to mine.

I don't look at Jason but I turn to send a glare in Connor's direction. I pull my leg up and push him off the edge of the log before standing and walking away without looking back, with my whiskey of course. That son of a bitch. I walk around the building and settle on sitting halfway up in a tree in the dark. I sigh, then groan, then yell and break off a chunk of a branch and throw it at the side of the building. Why were all guys such asses?!

"Hey there Barbie, having trouble with your Ken dolls?" I hear from a couple yards away. The voice is unmistakably Monroe's amused taunt. I really didn't have time for the ex-dictator right now, especially since it was his son being such an idiot.

I can't even see in the dark but I turn to the sound of the voice. "Sure, whatever that is" I mutter angrily. "But your son is the problem." I snap a moment later when I can tell he hasn't moved.

He chuckles. "What'd be do this time?" He asks sounding overly amused.

"Just let the whole clan know about what happened in New Vegas" I growl. A part of me blamed Monroe for this, even though I didn't know why.

I can feel his grin through the darkness. I'm about to tell him to shut the hell up or possibly knock the smirk off his face when a new voice joins the conversation. "What happened in New Vegas?" Miles asks, his voice gruff.

Oh shit.

* * *

_**Charlie:**_

"Miles!" I yelled after my uncle as he stormed away from Monroe and I towards Connor no doubt. Monroe leans against the side of the building watching me amusedly. "You do realize he's about to murder your son, right?" I snap. His eyes widen and were both running after Miles.

We catch up with Miles and I tug on his jacket to pull him back. "Miles stop it!" I exclaim. We were just out of sight from the bonfires and I really didn't want to bring this out where everyone else was.

I see the hard look in his eyes begging to soften when movement catches my eye to the right. A little faster off towards the tree line, Jason and Connor stood glaring at each other. Miles, now back in his vicious state, pushes away from me and starts off towards the boys. Monroe stands beside me, apparently knowing that Miles was at least somewhat calmed down now and that he wouldn't hurt his son...to badly, that is. He did know Miles better after all. I let myself stand there for a moment and regain my balance and breath.

Monroe still stands by my side, the amused expression plastered on his face. "Oh Bella, will you fall for Edward or Jacob?" He muses to himself. I roll my eyes at him and jog after Miles. I was more than done with all his pre-blackout references.

"You slept with Charlie didn't you?!" Miles roars as he stands mere feet from both boys.

Both of them have a look of shock and anger in their eyes. "What?" They exclaim at the same time. I would have found it funny if the circumstances were different.

Miles grabs Connor by the collar and pulls him towards him. "You ever touch her again and I don't care who your daddy is, I'll kill you." He growls before tossing him back and stalking away.

I breathe out a sigh of relief. I hated all this damn drama and wish everything could be easier. But I guess when your uncle, who is probably involved with his sister in law and you mother, -'s ex-best friend slash ex-co dictator returns and brings his idiotic son with him at the same time your kind of ex boyfriend who has been inches from indirectly killing you for the last two years meet, things will get more than a little confusing and dramatic.

"Sorry 'bout him, he's an ass sometimes" I mutter to Connor. I still didn't like him but an apology, even a small one was in order.

Connor shrugs it off and immediately throws a glare Jason's way. Jason looks vicious; his jaw locked and his eyes hard. They move towards each other like they were going to fight, I really think they got off on the wrong foot. Note the sarcasm. With my fast reflexes, I whip out two hand guns, one for each hand, and point them point blank at both of their heads. They turn to look at me, shocked expressions plastered onto their faces.

I smirk sarcastically. "Stop it" I growl loosing the fake grin "get out of here, both of you, go."

They straighten and throw a final glare at each other before parting and disappearing throughout the forest. Monroe chooses now to stroll on over with that stupid grin on his face.

"Handled that well" he comments. "Violence is always the answer" he says with a chuckle before strolling off, taking my whiskey with him.

* * *

_**Do you like Monroe's pre-blackout comments? I live for them:) I'm trying to make Monroe more of a good guy in this fan fiction. This story doesn't contain the nanites, but the tower is still there and they're all involved but no ninja fireflies here. I'm trying to make it more simple. Aaron is still gone, and I don't think I will be bringing him back, but anything can happen in Fan Fiction! Also this story will be told from mostly Charlie's POV but there will also be some Jason and maybe other's, I don't know.**_

_**Also I wonder what will happen in tomorrow's episode with Charlie and Tom Neville! I wonder if he will die too, and I actually kind of want him to. He has always been a major backstabbed to everyone and I just am tired of him. I saw this interview with the actor that plays him though, and he laughs really loudly and grins and it's major shock because he's usually so emotionless. Look up an interview with him, you'll freak out.**_

_**Pretty please leave a review, and I will update after five or six okay? **_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello all:) I am almost pulling my hair out waiting for the next Revolution episode! Anyone else? This show loves to only have a new episode every month, or that's what it seems like anyways. So next chapter is here, and were nearing the good stuff! I hope you like it!_

* * *

Charlie:

I open my eyes and all I see is blackness. I groan and hoist myself up off my mattress of found things before feeling around for the lantern. The soft orange glow illuminates the small room filled with only my little bed, a chair, my pack and me. I stumble to my feet and stretch then grab my jeans from the floor and pull them on. I yank on my jacket too, then my boots before moving the chair from when're it was held against the door so it wouldn't open from the other side.

Over the last few days the bruises I had gotten via Jason had begun to fade and I grew stronger. The effects of my concussion had gone away mostly aside for a little dizziness. Things between Connor and Jason remained tense but they got along barely out of pure circumstance.

Jason and I fell into a sort of routine with each other. We would exchange a few words every now and then, usually about battle plans or the war, but other than that we only nodded to each other or shared glances across the campfire when we thought the other one wasn't looking.

I sigh heavily as I see everyone gathered in the area designated as our kitchen. It looked to be around ten o'clock in the morning and I was hoping someone had some food.

"Finally" Monroe mutters as I join them. I ignore him like Miles usually does. If he taught me anything, it was how to ignore Monroe. Well that and how to kick ass.

"Anyone have food?" I ask. Everyone shares a sheepish look. I sigh and shoulder my crossbow and tuck my gun into my waistband. "I don't know how any of you made it this far" I say as I head out.

I have just stepped into the tree line when I feel a presence in the woods. I continue on and pretend I can't head the crunching of leaves behind me. The person is close to fifteen yards away and once I'm obscured behind a tree when the person's view of me is diverted, I hold my knife in my hand tightly. Once the person is just behind the tree, I turn and hold the knife to their throat. It's Jason. I pull the knife back and step away, realizing I was almost pressed up against him.

He steps back too and looks at me. After a moment he cracks a smile. "What, I don't get handcuffed to a pole?" He asks with a glint in his eyes.

"You should be" I call as I start walking farther into the forest. "Because you still suck at being quiet in the forest. But I'm tired so you're safe for now"

I hear him chuckle from behind me then I hear the crackle of pine needles as Jason catches up with me. Knowing that he won't leave me alone, I say "If you want to get food that's fine but go gather something, you're scaring off all the game."

"Okay fine" he says the walks off to the left where I hear snapping of twigs before the noise fades.

I transform into my hunter mode, instantly shifting so less weight was on my feet while I walked. I raise a handful of soil to the air and watch as it blows south. I move with it to stay downwind. I move silently over the ground, my feet instinctively moving to step on the dirt patches instead of the noisy pine needles. As I lean against a tree to stay out if sight, a lone deer wanders into the clearing before me.

I raise my crossbow, wait for the perfect shot, and shoot. The deer falls dead.

I grin and walk towards it, then cut and wrap it in pieces of cloth and plastic before packing it in my bag. I am about to go find Jason when a twig snaps a few yards behind me. I'm about to turn and annoy Jason more about being horrible at sneaking, because he really is, when I realize it isn't Jason.

I turn to see three men standing there. They were older, around forty and by their thick militia jackets; I knew they were bounty hunters. They were probably hunting for the Patriots now.

They were all fairly tall and looked to be at least twice as strong as me. Their hands were tucked into all of their pockets, and I could tell then they rested on hand guns. In their eyes, you could see that they were deranged and cruel. I had become accustomed with that look. They weren't just idiots with guns either, they calculated everything they saw and were very well trained.

It was a good thing that I was too.

I was also good at keeping myself alive, and acting was a part of that. "Um hello?" I ask widening my eyes and smiling hesitantly. My voice was an octave higher and southern. I change my stance from defensive to open and more at ease.

The men exchange sly looks. The man to the left took a step forward. "Hey there" he says. His voice was deep. "I'm Stephan, and this is Phillip and Derek" he says reaching forward to shake my hand.

I return the handshake, of course using barely any strength, then step back. "I'm Rose Tyler" I say with a slightly more relaxed smile.

"Well what are you doing out here all alone Rose?" The same man asks cracking a smile. His teeth are crooked and yellow.

I shrug and hold up my crossbow. "Huntin'" I reply "but I'm not alone, my cousin's 'round here somewhere lookin' for berries and all."

The man smiles "You have the sweetest accent." He says and I blush right on cue. "Where ya from?"

"Sylvana Acres in Ohio" I respond. Some people there had accents anyways. "What 'bout y'all? I ask politely.

"We're uh, looking for someone. Miles Mathenson, he's a wanted terrorist. Were with the patriots, you've heard of-" I tune out. I really didn't need to hear the patriot saviors' speech again. And damn did Stephan like to hear himself talk.

When he is done talking, I smile encouragingly. "Yeah I've heard of 'em. It's amazing that the US is still possible. But no, I'm sorry, I've never heard of Miles Mascenson" I finish with a shrug. I had messed up my uncle's name slightly on purpose.

"That's quite alright dear. Why don't you come with us and we'll keep ya safe till we can get ya back to your family" the guy offers taking my arm in his tightly.

I pull away weakly. "No, no thank you, my cousin's right 'round here" I say, fake worry seeping into my voice.

"I wasn't asking" he says, his voice hard. He pulls me roughly with him by the arm, making me 'accidentally' drop my crossbow and I fake a stumble to keep up with him.

I take advantage that his hands are busy dragging me, by twisting and grabbing his gun from his pocket. Within a second, I've drawn a knife from my boot, brought it to his neck while keeping myself sheltered behind him, and distanced myself from the other two.

Stephan elbows me hard in the stomach twice and I cringe but don't release my hold. I knee Stephan where it hurts and duck with him as two bullets from the other two fly past where my head just was. Pointing my gun under his arm, I let two bullets fly towards the other men, ending their lives.

After the other two are hit and crumple to the ground, Stephan grabs me around the middle and throws me in front of him. He approaches slowly, and once he's close, I knock his feet from under him and scramble to pin him down the best I can.

I yank his arm behind his back the best I can. He's too strong and manages to stand, taking me with him. He tries to throw me off, but I throw one leg over his shoulder, while keeping the other locked around his back. I drive the butt of my knife into his temple, once, twice, a third time, and he crumbles to the ground unconscious.

I look up then and see Jason standing in the bushes. I look back down at what I was doing and push the man the rest of the way off of me. I sit there for a minute and catch my breath. I'm about to get up when Jason's hand reaches down to help me up.

I hesitate for a moment before slipping my hand into his and allowing him to pull me up. We make eye contact for a moment then I finally glance away.

"We should take him back to Miles. They're bounty hunters, er, well he is. He was looking for him. Help me?" I ask already leaning down to pull up the man.

Jason takes the other side of him and pulls the guy's arm over his shoulder like I did. We pull him along in silence for a moment before Jason speaks.

"I liked your little innocent thing back there by the way" he says with a smirk as he looks over at me.

My brow knits in confusion. "What? You were there the whole time? And you just left me there?" I ask angrily. I could've done it myself and I did, easily almost. But what annoys me is that he didn't even lift a finger to help me.

"No, I showed up right when they were asking you about Miles. I was in the bushes trying to get a good angle when you took care of the other two guys for me" he explains cracking a smile.

I find the corners of my mouth lifting up too. "Yeah well, yeah" I say thinking of the intensive training with Miles and the life experiences that trained me.

We near the edge of the clearing and pass of the guy to two of the war clan warriors who say that Miles was out but they would guard him until he came back. I nod my thanks to them then leave Jason and walk off to clean myself off and cook the deer.

I decide to stop by my room and sit down for a few minutes but the plan changes when I end up passing out and sleeping for close to three hours. When I wake, I hurry to start a fire because the deer meat was still in my pack. I find one of the war clan warriors' coals and walk off into the woods to find firewood.

I'm only a hundred yards or so into the woods when I hear more cracking of branches and dead leaves. I creep closer and try and locate the source of the noise when I stop short. There, under the heavy bough of an evergreen tree, was my mom firmly pressed against Miles as they kissed.

My mind screamed for me to yell and shout and make a scene but all I can do it run out of there as quietly as I can manage. Tears stream down my face and I have no idea what I feel. I hated feeling things; I had promised myself that after the tower I wouldn't feel anything anymore and I stuck to my plan. That was until Jason came back. His return caused my feelings of betrayal, pain, and love. Yes I had loved him, emphasis on _had_ and _loved_. I was confused and angry now.

Miles with my mom wasn't such a bad thing; I had always had a pretty strong suspicion that he had feelings for her. There was even a lot of evidence that he had an affair with my mom back when I was very little. I had heard Monroe's stories, and he may be a ruthless ex-dictator but he didn't lie. He said that my mom lead Miles on and was basically a tramp. It wasn't Miles that I blamed here, it was my mom.

She had cheated on my dad with his brother. How could she do that, especially when she had a child? My dad was dead now, and she could never make up for it. And now that he was dead, she's just moving on back to his brother. I hated her.

I hated myself for being such a baby and crying about this. I lean against the vacant dark side of the building and sink down and rest my arms on my knees. Silent tears continue to stream down my face.

I hear the now too familiar crunching of leaves as someone approaches me. Damn, I really hated that sound.

"Charlie?" Jason asks, his deep voice tinged with surprise.

I sniff and rub my face with the back of my hand. "Go away Jason" I mumble. Out of instinct, my tears stop and I breathe deeply to regain my composure.

Jason doesn't reply, but I can feel him sit down beside me. My face is still buried in my arms which rested on my knees, but out of the corner of my eyes, I see Jason far enough from me so I'm comfortable, but close enough that there was only a few inches between us.

""What's wrong?" He asks, his voice was calm and steady. It soothed me.

With the back of my hand, I rub my face again. "I saw my mom and Miles making out like teenagers back in the forest" I say angrily, my voice still strong. "It's just fantastic isn'It it? I mean they make the perfect couple. What do you think their combined body count is? Three billion? Four maybe?" I launch my knife I usually kept in my boot into the air and feel a twinge of satisfaction as it imbeds itself up to the hilt in a tree.

I'm about to grab another of my knives and try for a more advanced target when Jason's hand grabs mine. He holds it tight but gently as he pries the knife out of my hand.

"Hey, calm down" he whispers huskily "you're fine, just relax."

I look up at him finally and am about to spit out some sarcastic remark, when I'm stopping by the intense look in his eyes. They're chocolate brown with a swirl of gold. I look down, then back up at him. He still looks into my eyes.

"Charlie?" He whisper-asks. I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. "Do you trust me?"

Did I trust him? My first answer would be a laugh quickly followed by a hell no. But as I start to think about it, I remember what has happened the last two years. Damn, he had switched sides a lot, but he had always let us know who's side he was really on. He had saved my life countless times, and almost ended it once. I realize that yes, I do trust him, even if its just barely.

"Yes."

* * *

Whatcha think is going to happen?! I know *devious smile*. If you review, you could know too! Remember it takes hours to write and only seconds to review! I'll update after a few reviews. What do you think should happen? Tell me what you want to read, and i'll make it happen.

~Bellabear~


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie:

"Charlie?" He whisper-asks. I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. "Do you trust me?"

Did I trust him? My first answer would be a laugh quickly followed by a hell no. But as I start to think about it, I remember what has happened the last two years. Damn, he had switched sides a lot, but he had always let us know who's side he was really on. He had saved my life countless times, and almost ended it once. I realize that yes, I do trust him, even if its just barely.

"Yes."

A flicker of a smile flits across his face. His warm chocolate brown eyes look into mine with his familiar soft yet strong caring stare. My heart begins to thud lightly, something I'd never think it ever do for something other that battle lust again. His face is less than a foot away from mine and I can feel his warm breath on my cheek.

His hand hesitantly reaches out and brushes away a stray couple strands of hair from my face. Ever the gentleman. He tilts his head to the right ever so slightly and move forward have an inch before pulling back.

A small smirk turns up the corner of his mouth and crinkles the edges of his eyes. He tilts his head to the side "How much?" He whispers huskily.

His gentleman thing is cute, but I'm done waiting. In one quick movement I've interlaced my hands behind his neck and leaned forward so my head is just above his. His eyes still crinkle with a small smirk. "Enough" I growl before pulling his lips to mine.

His hands immediately go to my body, one hand snaking around my waist and the other tangling itself in my hair. He tastes like he smells; woods, leather and something else distinctly Jason. This isn't one of the sweet kisses we used to share with bright cheeks and sparkling eyes. This is a kiss of desperation longing.

I'm almost kneeling over his lap now, and the bits of dirt and other fallen materials dig into my knees as I try to ignore them. That, paired with the protesting in my side from the still fading bruising and the need for air becoming stronger, finally causes me to break away gasping.

There's a moment of just us both catching out breaths, then the thick yellow cloud descends on us.

Jason and I are on the edge of the camp and are the first to see the sickly yellow colored gas billow quickly towards us. Were on our feet in a second and sprint away as the cloud licks at our feet. Jason grips my wrist to help me keep upright as we run into the main camp area where Miles, Bass and my mom are.

Miles is the first to turn and see the impending gas. "Everybody run!" Miles shouts. Realization dawns in all of their eyes in the split second before they burst into action.

As we navigate throughout the difficult landscape, I steal glances back at the strange gas behind us. I catch glimpses of men dressed in black suits and masks with containers of gas. People scream and shriek as they stamped away from the gas. The sound of people coughing wildly is background noise to the hysteria. Once the yellow gas touched you, you were dead. It was that simple.

"It's mustard gas! You gotta get to higher ground! Get to higher ground!" Miles yells above the panic.

Jason and I reach the base of the structure many are climbing but Miles waves us on towards my mom, Bass, Connor and the rest of our group. We run past the building and out into a more open area. It wasn't very safe seeing as people were being taken down by bullets now. I dodge a falling body that was shot from above, but am sprayed with warm blood.

"Into the truck!" Miles shouts pointing to a rusted cylinder that could possibly block out the yellow gas. I reach it first and help Monroe yank open the sliding door. We all pile in as quickly as we can before Miles roughy pulls the door securely shut.

We all sit as quietly as we can as we suck in labored breaths. The only light comes from my grandpas lighter that he holds carefully in the middle of the cylinder. In the flickering light, I glance at Jason out of the corner of my eye. He was panting but was also looking at carefully. Well isn't this fun.

Miles, Bass and Taylor wait at the door with their guns raised and their bodies rigid and poised for attack. A gun shot sounds from nearby and Taylor stands up and makes for the door saying that his men were out there. Miles snapped that they were definitely dead and to shut up. How fun.

Someone from the outside pulls at the door. Miles and Bass rise up slightly higher and stand ready. The person seemingly gives up and the protesting on the door ceases. A moment later three shots penetrate the side of the cylinder with a loud ting and bright sickly yellow light glows into the small area. We all lunge to cover the holes and I end up covering the farthest one. I pull up my sleeve over my hand and press it carefully over the hole. Just in case.

We don't leave the cylinder for another hour at least in fear that the gassers remain or the gas itself. Then, in the dead of night, we creep out and scurry through the darkness in search of a place to hole up in for a while. We pass too many dead bodies, all of our men are dead. We had an entire army, and now were down to the same old ragtag group.

We end up in an old gas station shop where we start a small fire. Shortly after arrival, Miles, Bass, Connor and Taylor head out to steal mustard gas from the patriots. They won't let me go though because the fewer the better and also because I'm still hurt. They won't let Jason anywhere near the patriots either. I'm all for fighting back, but of course my mom isn't. While I barely keep myself alive, she can think about how to win a war with manners.

All who remains is me, Jason, mom and grandpa. I can tell that Jason wants to talk, and it's not very hard to figure out what about.

"I'm going to go collect some more firewood, Charlie?" My mom asks questioningly. She could do it herself, and she would but she probably wants to talk to me. I want to avoid a fight so I stand up and follow her out.

We walk in silence in the early morning light for a few minutes until we come across a thick area of trees with plenty of fallen sticks and pine needles.

"Hey" she blurts out after a moment sounding like she had wanted to say it for the last few minutes.

I pick up a large fallen branch for the ground. "Hi" I reply suspiciously.

"You and Jason, you're a thing again aren't you?" She asks having made up her mind that she was going to talk.

I turn my head away from her so she doesn't see my eye roll. She was so nosy, and I was twenty two for gods sake. The only reason I wasn't on my own was because of this damn war. It didn't mean it was her job to ask about my day.

"Maybe. So what if we are?" I say dismissively as I reach down and pick up some more firewood to add to the growing pile in my arms. I really didn't know where Jason and I stood for the time being.

She pauses for a moment and I sense that something more is coming. "You just need to be careful, that's all" she says and I stop what I'm doing I look at her expectantly. "A relationship in the middle of all this could go wrong. Something could happen-"

I cut her off. "Are you trying to have a sex talk with me?" I slowly ask disbelievingly.

She actually blushes then looks down before looking back up at me. "I just think-" she starts.

"I'm twenty two, I don't need you to talk to me. Not about relationships, not about sex, not about war, not about anything" I say, my voice dangerously low.

She pulls back a moment before stepping forward, eyes blazing. "And what go you mean by that?" She growls.

"You're trying to win the war with manners! They gas us and kill our people, but you're against us fighting back! War, mom. I know dictionaries are hard to come by, but I'm sure you've read somewhere that war is where you fight back. People are going to die, but more will die if we don't fight back now" I argue angrily.

She just didn't get it. You would've thought that someone who has already ended the world and killed three million plus people, wouldn't be so difficult. It wasn't like I wanted to be a murder, but if we let the patriots win, the blood would still be on our hands and there would be much much more of it.

"You want us to kill children. Like Danny" she says with her voice low and shaking slightly.

A surge of anger courses through me. "Stop throwing Danny in my face! This has nothing to do with my brother. To save others, like Danny, we are going to have to kill some people here. It's not like I want to, but it will save more people. Just because you know some of these kids, doesn't mean that they're any better than the other kids in other places. You are being selfish, like always" I snap before turning on my heel and marching away with the firewood in my arms.

I return to the gas station and put the wood in the fire before sitting back down and ignoring the looks from my grandpa and Jason who notice my enraged state. I pull the deer meat from my pack from earlier and set it in the coals to cook. My mom comes about five minutes later but avoids looking at me. It's obvious she's still seething.

When the food is done I barely eat any of it because I'm still too angry to eat. My grandpa leaves to go get Marian for some plan my mom has come up with that follows her manners war plan. Im not sure of the full plan, I ignored whatever I didn't have to do. I go out back for some air, it was more than needed.

The sky has just made it's transition from dawn to morning. It must be around six in the morning now. The air is growing cold and I can feel that winter will be here soon. I haven't been keeping track of the weeks or even months, but it feels like early November. Everything was too quiet. No chirping of the birds. No buzzing of the insects. Nothing. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle chirping of crickets that come from the bushes beyond.

I move my hand to my wavy brown hair and gently try to run my fingers throw it to no avail. There were too many knots. It was soaked with sweat, blood and dirt even though I had last washed it only two days ago. A river or stream somewhere would be great, but even a bucket of water and a bar of soap would be nice.

However, nowadays things that were 'nice' didn't matter anymore. It was all about survival now. Food, water, guns...those were the three main items needed for survival. Everything else was a luxury. As unfortunate as it was, that was just the way things worked nowadays. The only time anyone could ever afford a luxury was if they had a place to live or camp. Obviously we didn't. We didn't have any luxuries and haven't for a while now.

The back door to the gas station creases loudly open, and without even looking I know that it's Jason. Without speaking he comes to stand near me and somehow I don't feel awkward like I normally would, but comfortable.

"Hey" he says softly after a moment "you alright?"

I can feel the double meaning in his words. He wasn't just talking about if I was okay about what happened with my mom, he was also talking about the kiss a few hours ago. It feels like years ago, but it was only last night.

I keep my gaze out in the distance. "Yeah, I'm fine" I reply.

"Fine always means that you're not fine" Jason points out cracking a small smile.

I shrug. "Well fine, then I'm not fine. I'm thinking of ways to make my moms death look like an accident. Don't worry though, I'm only partially serious now."

"I'm not worrying, I'm working on the same thing with Connor" he says sounding annoyed.

I smirk and chuckle at myself "I have an idea."

"Are you going to be sarcastic?" He asks with a knowing crooked half smile.

I roll my eyes and pout. "You take all the fun out of it for me" I complain.

The sound of heavy footsteps and loud voices come from the front. Miles, Bass, Connor and Taylor were back. Jason and I go back through the back door and into the room where Miles is just entering followed by the others. They set their weapons and gas tanks down on the table. Miles casually calls everyone else outside-something that seems normal but I can tell is something to get them all outside. This is the part of the plan that I zoned out on.

Miles closes and locks the door on the others and Bass turns and looks in the door. "Miles? What's this? Miles?" He asks much more confused than angry. It fades quickly. Bass grabs the fence of the door and yanks on it. "What is this?!" He demands.

"It's a little home ec tip. You mix lye and water, and it neutralizes mustard gas" my mom says as she messes with a large cylinder of water and starts pumping the gas into the water.

Bass tilts his head still confused. "Were still going to use the gas right?" He asks Miles questioningly.

Miles looks away then back at Bass. "Yeah" he says drawing out the word "just not in the way you thought."

Bass almost grows with rage. He yanks roughly at the fence in effort to get in but it's pointless. "So what, Miles is uh...this little breakup with Rachel that was, god that was an act" Bass says almost chiding himself. Miles shrugs and shakes his head causing Bass to leap at the door again.

Miles turns to Marian who stands  
next to my grandpa. "Marian, this is military grade mustard gas. The patriots are using this stuff on us. And god knows what else."

Marian exhales shortly as she stares shocked at the canisters of gas. "Yellow cross. I saw an order that they were shipping in a hundred tons of something called yellow cross" she says.

"What would they need that much for?" My mom asks.

"To kill us, you dumb bitch!" Bass shouts from where he is still locked outside. "And now we got nothing to fight them with, Miles!" He pushes against the door "for what, huh?!"

Miles looks away from him calmly. "I don't know how much more proof you need. These aren't the squeaky clean US that you think they are. If they were, they wouldn't be using weapons like this" he says to Marian.

"Well what do you want me to do?" She responds grimly.

"Nobody had better eyes on Truman than you" Miles replies. Marian bites her lip uncertainly as Bass continues to glare "We need you to tell us what he's up to."

An agonizing moment later, Marian nods. Relief visually washes through the group. A minute later Miles unlocks the door and I'm the first one out followed by Jason. I can almost feel his protective aurora around me, probably just in spite of Connor. Boys.

Jason pauses behind me probably wanting to stay for the obvious argument and possible fight of Miles and Bass. I see the glares still being exchanged between Jason and Connor, and grab Jason's forearm. He looks at me confused and partially shocked. "I had to pull out my gun before, and I'll do it again" I whisper smugly and he lets me pull him along.

* * *

_...um hello? Don't kill me! Please? Oh god I'm so sorry it had been so long! There had been so much school work and tests and volleyball and I have had no time for writing this story. School is over this week, so chapters to come! Pretty please leave a review on what you think will happen, what you want to happen and any and everything else. Review for my birthday present? It was yesterday (June 3rd). Thanks everyone for reading and next chapter will be up soon!_

_~Bellabear~_


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